A FOOD FOR THOUGHT AND LESSON FOR EVERY NIGERIAN PUBLIC OFFICE HOLDER
November 25, 2020 | News
It is only fools that would tell themselves that their current status, positions, powers, fringe benefits and privileges which they enjoy by virtue of the public office they occupy, would last forever. And as such, such persons would continue to live, and do things as they please without any regard for others, or consider the adverse effects their actions have on the ordinary people.
A FOOD FOR THOUGHT AND LESSON FOR EVERY NIGERIAN PUBLIC OFFICE HOLDER
It is only fools that would tell themselves that their current status, positions, powers, fringe benefits and privileges which they enjoy by virtue of the public office they occupy, would last forever. And as such, such persons would continue to live, and do things as they please without any regard for others, or consider the adverse effects their actions have on the ordinary people. They forget that one irony of life is that, no condition is ever permanent. And whatsoever a man soweth, that he shall surely reap in due season – be it good or bad things sown.
Those were my thoughts, when I saw a viral video online of a popular motivational speaker, who gave this subject narrative with a story. In his words: “There was a former Undersecretary of Defense who was invited to give a speech at a large conference of about a thousand people. And he was standing on the stage with his cup of coffee in a Styrofoam cup, giving his prepared speech to march with his PowerPoint behind him, and he took a sip of his coffee and he smiled and he looked down at the coffee. And then he went off-script and he said; you know last year; I spoke at this exact same conference. Last year, I was still the Undersecretary of Defense and when I spoke here last year, they flew me here business class, and when I arrived at the airport there was somebody waiting for me to take me to my hotel. They took me to my hotel and they had already checked me in, and they just took me up to my room. The next morning, I came downstairs there was someone waiting in the lobby to greet me, and they drove me to this same venue. They took me through the back entrance and took me into the green room and handed me a cup of coffee in a beautiful ceramic cup.
“He says, I am no longer the Undersecretary of Defense. I flew here coach (Economy class). I took a taxi to my hotel and I checked myself in. When I came down the lobby this morning, I took another taxi to this venue. I came in the front door and found my way backstage, and when I asked someone do you have any coffee, he pointed to the coffee machine in the corner, and I poured myself a cup of coffee into this Styrofoam cup. He says, the lesson is that the ceramic cup was never meant for me, it was meant for the position I held. I deserve a Styrofoam cup.
“Remember this, as you gain fame, as you gain fortune, as you gain position and seniority, people will treat you better; they will hold doors open for you. they will get you a cup of tea and coffee without you even asking. They will call you Sir and Madam and they will give you stuff. None of that stuff is meant for you. That stuff is meant for the position you hold. It is meant for the level that you have achieved of a leader, or success, or whatever you want to call it. But you will always deserve a Styrofoam cup. Remember that! Remember that lesson of humility and gratitude. You can accept all of the free stuff. You can accept all the perks, absolutely you can enjoy them. But just be grateful for them and know that they’re not for you.
“I remember getting of the Acela. I took the Acela from New York to Washington DC and I got off the train like everybody else, and I was walking down the platform like everyone else. And I walked past General Norty Schurantz, who used to be the Chief of Staff of the United States Airforce. That the head of the Air force. And here, I did see a guy in a suit, schlepping his own suitcase down the platform just like me. But just a couple of months ago he was flying on private jets, had an entourage, and other people carried his luggage. But he no longer held that position. And so now, he got to drag his own suitcase. Never did it sort of remind me more that none of us deserve the perks that we get; we all deserve a Styrofoam cup.”
I believe this should be a food for thought, and a lesson to all Nigerian Public Office holders, and even people in other positions of Authority in the private sector. Whatever the position you occupy today, be it as a President, Vice President, Governor, Deputy Governor, Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Senator, House of Representatives Member, State lawmaker, Minister, Commissioner, Board Chairman, Director, Managing Director, General Manager, Council Chairman, Councilor, Community Chairman, etc., realize that the Positions are not for you for a life time. As such, you should not be addicted to the positions you occupy because they are not for you. So, whatever power and privileges you have right now by virtue of that position you occupy, is only but for a specified time frame.
The moment you step out of that office, the ‘honour’ and other fringe benefits/privileges you had in that office, will be gone, and taken over by another person. In other words, people who occupy such Positions Of Service, should learn to humble themselves, and diligently serve the public they are meant to serve in the first place. Nigerian politicians in particular, should seriously heed this advice, and be reminded that no matter how long they may want to force themselves on the people as Governors, Legislators, Commissioners, Ministers, Chairmen and Directors/Managers of Government Companies, Senators, Presidents and what have you, they will be out of fashion and out of power one day. That day of reckoning will surely come, and they will either be remembered for good or bad, depending on how they were able to Serve the people while in those Public Offices.
I still remember my encounter around June 2019 with the former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the NNPC, who was not happy with the public reactions then about the operations/actions of the NNPC. I made it clear to him then that I would not be sending him any message if he was not occupying the position of the GMD, NNPC. That by virtue of that position, and as the person appointed by the Federal Government to manage the Federal Government of Nigeria's oil and gas assets in the country via the NNPC – that the NNPC, which is owned by the Nigerian Federal Government, is not his personal property. That the NNPC is an institution of the public under the custodian of the Federal Government of Nigeria, as such, he is answerable to the Nigerian people, especially as it affects the lives of Nigerians. I made it clear to him that nobody forced him to apply to work for the NNPC, and nobody forced him to accept/lobby for the appointment of the position of GMD by the President. And that he is simply a privileged Nigerian to have been appointed the position of GMD of the NNPC because there are many more qualified and competent Nigerians than he is, who were aspiring to get that position. In other words, he should not use his position as the then GMD of NNPC to intimidate the public and the very people, whose interests he was meant to serve/protect/project… And I told him: Mr. GMD NNPC, I will only stop sending you messages when you have gone on retirement, or no longer the GMD of the NNPC. But as long as you are still occupying that position as GMD NNPC, I will continue to send him with pressing issues and matters that concern the NNPC operations as it affects the local communities, and that if he doesn't want this, then he should resign from that office.
As noted by former Governor of California, US, Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger: “Do not trust your position or the amount of money you have, nor your power, nor your intelligence, it will not last.” Those are strong and profound words of wisdom from a man who has come to realize that everything in this life is vanity upon vanity. And as such, people need to wise up, especially those in political power, who may be blinded by their present status and fringe benefits which attract friends and relatives that will clog around them when the going is good, but all of that will be no more when they leave that position. So, they should use the privilege given them well, to serve the people.
Zik Gbemre.
November 25, 2020
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
It is only fools that would tell themselves that their current status, positions, powers, fringe benefits and privileges which they enjoy by virtue of the public office they occupy, would last forever. And as such, such persons would continue to live, and do things as they please without any regard for others, or consider the adverse effects their actions have on the ordinary people. They forget that one irony of life is that, no condition is ever permanent. And whatsoever a man soweth, that he shall surely reap in due season – be it good or bad things sown.
Those were my thoughts, when I saw a viral video online of a popular motivational speaker, who gave this subject narrative with a story. In his words: “There was a former Undersecretary of Defense who was invited to give a speech at a large conference of about a thousand people. And he was standing on the stage with his cup of coffee in a Styrofoam cup, giving his prepared speech to march with his PowerPoint behind him, and he took a sip of his coffee and he smiled and he looked down at the coffee. And then he went off-script and he said; you know last year; I spoke at this exact same conference. Last year, I was still the Undersecretary of Defense and when I spoke here last year, they flew me here business class, and when I arrived at the airport there was somebody waiting for me to take me to my hotel. They took me to my hotel and they had already checked me in, and they just took me up to my room. The next morning, I came downstairs there was someone waiting in the lobby to greet me, and they drove me to this same venue. They took me through the back entrance and took me into the green room and handed me a cup of coffee in a beautiful ceramic cup.
“He says, I am no longer the Undersecretary of Defense. I flew here coach (Economy class). I took a taxi to my hotel and I checked myself in. When I came down the lobby this morning, I took another taxi to this venue. I came in the front door and found my way backstage, and when I asked someone do you have any coffee, he pointed to the coffee machine in the corner, and I poured myself a cup of coffee into this Styrofoam cup. He says, the lesson is that the ceramic cup was never meant for me, it was meant for the position I held. I deserve a Styrofoam cup.
“Remember this, as you gain fame, as you gain fortune, as you gain position and seniority, people will treat you better; they will hold doors open for you. they will get you a cup of tea and coffee without you even asking. They will call you Sir and Madam and they will give you stuff. None of that stuff is meant for you. That stuff is meant for the position you hold. It is meant for the level that you have achieved of a leader, or success, or whatever you want to call it. But you will always deserve a Styrofoam cup. Remember that! Remember that lesson of humility and gratitude. You can accept all of the free stuff. You can accept all the perks, absolutely you can enjoy them. But just be grateful for them and know that they’re not for you.
“I remember getting of the Acela. I took the Acela from New York to Washington DC and I got off the train like everybody else, and I was walking down the platform like everyone else. And I walked past General Norty Schurantz, who used to be the Chief of Staff of the United States Airforce. That the head of the Air force. And here, I did see a guy in a suit, schlepping his own suitcase down the platform just like me. But just a couple of months ago he was flying on private jets, had an entourage, and other people carried his luggage. But he no longer held that position. And so now, he got to drag his own suitcase. Never did it sort of remind me more that none of us deserve the perks that we get; we all deserve a Styrofoam cup.”
I believe this should be a food for thought, and a lesson to all Nigerian Public Office holders, and even people in other positions of Authority in the private sector. Whatever the position you occupy today, be it as a President, Vice President, Governor, Deputy Governor, Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Senator, House of Representatives Member, State lawmaker, Minister, Commissioner, Board Chairman, Director, Managing Director, General Manager, Council Chairman, Councilor, Community Chairman, etc., realize that the Positions are not for you for a life time. As such, you should not be addicted to the positions you occupy because they are not for you. So, whatever power and privileges you have right now by virtue of that position you occupy, is only but for a specified time frame.
The moment you step out of that office, the ‘honour’ and other fringe benefits/privileges you had in that office, will be gone, and taken over by another person. In other words, people who occupy such Positions Of Service, should learn to humble themselves, and diligently serve the public they are meant to serve in the first place. Nigerian politicians in particular, should seriously heed this advice, and be reminded that no matter how long they may want to force themselves on the people as Governors, Legislators, Commissioners, Ministers, Chairmen and Directors/Managers of Government Companies, Senators, Presidents and what have you, they will be out of fashion and out of power one day. That day of reckoning will surely come, and they will either be remembered for good or bad, depending on how they were able to Serve the people while in those Public Offices.
I still remember my encounter around June 2019 with the former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the NNPC, who was not happy with the public reactions then about the operations/actions of the NNPC. I made it clear to him then that I would not be sending him any message if he was not occupying the position of the GMD, NNPC. That by virtue of that position, and as the person appointed by the Federal Government to manage the Federal Government of Nigeria's oil and gas assets in the country via the NNPC – that the NNPC, which is owned by the Nigerian Federal Government, is not his personal property. That the NNPC is an institution of the public under the custodian of the Federal Government of Nigeria, as such, he is answerable to the Nigerian people, especially as it affects the lives of Nigerians. I made it clear to him that nobody forced him to apply to work for the NNPC, and nobody forced him to accept/lobby for the appointment of the position of GMD by the President. And that he is simply a privileged Nigerian to have been appointed the position of GMD of the NNPC because there are many more qualified and competent Nigerians than he is, who were aspiring to get that position. In other words, he should not use his position as the then GMD of NNPC to intimidate the public and the very people, whose interests he was meant to serve/protect/project… And I told him: Mr. GMD NNPC, I will only stop sending you messages when you have gone on retirement, or no longer the GMD of the NNPC. But as long as you are still occupying that position as GMD NNPC, I will continue to send him with pressing issues and matters that concern the NNPC operations as it affects the local communities, and that if he doesn't want this, then he should resign from that office.
As noted by former Governor of California, US, Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger: “Do not trust your position or the amount of money you have, nor your power, nor your intelligence, it will not last.” Those are strong and profound words of wisdom from a man who has come to realize that everything in this life is vanity upon vanity. And as such, people need to wise up, especially those in political power, who may be blinded by their present status and fringe benefits which attract friends and relatives that will clog around them when the going is good, but all of that will be no more when they leave that position. So, they should use the privilege given them well, to serve the people.
Zik Gbemre.
November 25, 2020
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes